West Cocalico continues SRO discussion

Examples of ESTJ Myers-Briggs Type Indicator melt-downs were witnessed at the West Cocalico supervisors meeting, Dec. 18.
Resident Brandon Barry asked for an escrow reduction on an ongoing problem he has on his property.

Tim Mitchell, from East Cocalico, asked Supervisor James Stoner if West Cocalico will be paying the Rettew engineering bill pertaining to the Barry’s reduction.

“Do you want to sit in the back of the class?” asked Stoner. “Shut up.”

The board laughed outwardly.

“I’m just looking for clarity,” said Jeff Mitchell, an East Cocalico resident.

“You don’t live here,” said Stoner.

The board approved the reduction and plans to further help Barry in January.

Susan Fleming, a West Cocalico resident, was concerned that since Cocalico municipalities have been squabbling over joint funding a school resource officer (SRO) for Cocalico School District, some are either now not donating to the new Adamstown Library project or reducing their donation.

Mitchell was permitted to discuss with Fleming and cleared possible rumors or false information coming from different sources concerning the subject.

“They’re (Denver Borough) reducing their amount, they’re giving them half,” said Mitchell. “East Cocalico is reducing theirs, but it’s still, as I understand it, in excess of $20,000.”

Fleming said she heard otherwise.

“You can go online and look at the budgeting for 2019 and there is money for Adamstown Library in that proposed budget,” said Mitchell.

Stoner asked Mitchell, “Who are you speaking for?”

“I’m speaking from my observation,” said Mitchell. “No one is cutting it all, but there may be some deductions.”

“As a West Cocalico resident, it’s disturbing because it reads almost like we’re cheap-skates,” said Fleming.

“I expect something will be resolved one way or another,” said Stoner. “I’m not going to guarantee you what’s going to come out of it, but there will be some meetings at the beginning of next year.”

The amount of money Denver Borough (where the high and middle schools reside) is giving to the Adamstown Area Library is approximately the same amount Adamstown Borough has been asked to fund their portion of an SRO.

“It’s unfortunate that the library is being held hostage in something they have no say in,” said Stoner.

As of Aug. 22, Adamstown Area Library raised for over a year, $950,000 toward their goal of $1.5 million. Cocalico High School received a grant for an SRO months ago. Cocalico municipalities may be weighing which is more important — an SRO or the library, or balancing weight between both. It seems all are for the library and all are for an SRO, but mudslinging and budget-scrambling late in the year has reached leaders’ nerves.

At the time of the meeting, West Cocalico is not contributing to fund the SRO at Cocalico School District. They will, at the time of the meeting, contribute to the library.

“How do other school districts fund their SROs?” asked resident Lori Berger. “I graduated from Wilson, we must have four or five police departments.”

Two police departments serve the Cocalico school district.

“We did some research on that and there’s a lot of different ways to fund it, there’s no one consistent way, there’s a bunch of different ways,” said West Cocalico Township manager, Carolyn Hildebrand. “I talked with a lot of other managers from different municipalities who have SROs to see how it’s working, and then I shared what I found with the supervisors, so they could make a decision.”
Berger told Hildebrand, “That’s an excellent idea.”

“There’s always a bigger picture,” said Stoner. “One of my concerns is the precedent that it sets. Once you start doing that (funding), it’s never gonna go away.”

“I don’t understand why we’re being asked to pay for it (SRO),” said Stoner. “I don’t buy a crane and then go to my customer base and ask them to pay for this. When you make a business decision, you have to figure out how you’re going to pay for it.”

“I’m hearing some complaints, concerns from some substitute teachers, ‘why are the police there every day?’” said Stoner.
“Are we that bad as a society around here that we have to have police at the school every day or are they using them as a crutch?”
Stoner calmed and then spoke vaguely, and it seemed he will revisit funding after the new year.

In other news, the real estate tax rate will increase to 1.91 mills for 2019. In 2018, the millage was 1.82.

“Basically, we have to rebuild two bridges from the ground up and they are not cheap,” said Stoner.

Water and sewer rates will each increase five percent for residents.
The township is changing its sewage enforcement officer from Berks Enviro Tech in West Reading to Len Spencer of Manheim starting in 2019.